Freezing tray



April 1937- L. WIATCHISON 2,077,200

FREEZ ING TRAY Filed March 1, 1935 Invent or:

Leon ard W. Atc h i s on i Attorney.

Patented Apr. 13, 1937 UNITED STATES FREEZING TRAY Leonard W. Atchison, Schenectady, N. Y:, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application March 1, 1935, Serial No. 8,872

4 Claims.

My invention relates to freezing trays for refrigerating machines, and more particularly to partition assemblies for such trays.

It is an object of my'invention to provide an improved partition assembly for freezing trays in which the length of the partition assembly may be readily varied during assembly to accommodate freezing trays of diiferent lengths, which is economical to manufacture and which is of strong and rugged construction. I accomplish this by utilizing a plurality of partition elements which are preferably punched, or otherwise formed, from sheet material, each partition ele-- ment having a longitudinally extending portion and oppositely extending lateral portions arranged at each end of said longitudinal portion. The individual partition elements, so formed, are rigidly secured together to form a partition assembly. V

Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the folowing description proceeds and the features of novelty which'characterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of my invention, reference may be had to the accompanying draw-- ing in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a freezing tray containing a partition assembly embodying my invention; and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the partition assembly shown in Fig. l and of a block of ice removed therefrom.

Referring to the drawing, in Fig. l I have shown a shallow rectangular metal freezing tray u I 0, containing a partition assembly. This partition assembly is made of a series of duplicate partition elements which are spot welded, or otherwise rigidlysecured, together, at the adjacent surfaces thereof.

The provision'of a freezing tray assembly made up of a series of partition elements having angularly disposed portions and secured together at their abutting surfaces is not my invention, but is the invention of Frank Conway and is described and claimed in his application Serial No. 8,867, filed March 1, 1935, and assigned to the General Electric Company, the assignee of my present invention.

Each of the duplicate partition elements H,

which are preferably made of aluminum or other flexible material, are provided with a longitudinally extended central portion l2 and oppositely extending transverse portions l3 and I4 at each end, respectively, of the longitudinally extending portion. The partition elements ll are thus of a substantially Z-shaped cross-section. The partition elements II are assembled in series relation with the central portions [2 thereof in substantial axial alinement along the center of the partition assembly, a part of the 5 central portion of each partition element overlapping a part of the central portion of the next successive partition element in the assembly. These overlapping parts of the central portions I I2 of the partition elements are rigidly secured 10 together preferably by the fusion of metal, that is, by spot welding, soldering, or the like, thus forming joints of good thermal conductivity therebetween. The distance by which one or more of the partition elements overlap the adjacent partition elements may be varied during manufacture before they are secured together. In this way, the total length of the partition assembly may be varied in order that the finished assembly will fit snugly into a freezing tray of 20 -any predetermined length. The transverse portions I3 and M of the partition elements H are disposed in spaced parallel relation with respect to each other, thus dividing the tray I0 into a series of individual compartments in which blocks of ice, or the like, may be frozen. The lower corners of the transverse portions l3 and I4 of the partition elements I l are rounded in order to conform closely to the bottom. of the tray II), which is provided with rounded edges as illustrated.

An L-shaped end partition element l 5 is rigidly secured to one end of the partition assembly, described above. The end partition element IS includes a longitudinaly extending portion 16 and a transversely extending portion I l. The end partition element'l5 is preferably secured to the adjacent Z-shapedpartition element II by the fusion of metal as, for example, by spot welding the part of the longitudinal portion N5 of the end partition element I5 adjacent the edge thereof 40 to the abutting part of the longitudinal portion l2 of the partition element II. A second end partition element 18 is secured to the opposite end of the partition assembly in the same man-. ner, as that described, with respect to the end partition element I5.

The partition elements which constitute the partition assembly, described above, are preferably made of resilient sheet material, such as aluminum, in order that the longitudinal por- 50 tion of the resulting structure may be readily flexed manually or otherwise in a lateral direction to the position shown in Fig. 2. In removing blocks of ice, or the like, from the freezing tray ID, the tray may be warmed by applying warm water to the bottom thereof. When the freezing tray I0 is warmed, in this manner, the cubes of ice, or the like, will be melted along the exterior sides thereof causing a breakage of the bond between the blocks of ice and the freezing tray, so that the partition assembly and the blocks of ice contained therein may be readily removed from. the freezing tray. l0. After the partition assembly and the ice contained therein have been removed, in this manner, the removal of the individual blocks of ice from the partition assembly is facilitated by the flexibility of the partition assembly. The blocks of ice are first removed from one side of the partition assembly then the longitudinal portion of the partition assembly is bent outwardly, and as a consequence the transversely extending portions l4 of the adjacent partition elements II are spread apart, thus breaking the bond between their inner surfaces and the remaining blocks of ice therein such as the block of ice l9, so that the remaining blocks of ice are allowed to fall freely therefrom, as shown in the drawing.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a partition assembly for a freezing tray which provides a series of ice cube compartments which may be economically manufactured by punching, or otherwise forming, a large number of duplicate partition elements from sheet material. The length of the partition assembly may be varied during the manufacture thereof by varying the amount by which one partition element overlaps the adjacent partition element and also by varying the number of partition elements em ployed, so that freezing trays of various lengths may be readily fitted. When these partition elements are secured together in the manner, described above, they form a strong rugged struc ture which will withstand hard usage.

While I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention in connection with a rigid metallic freezing tray, I do not desire my invention to be limited to the particular construction shown and described, and I intend, in the appended claims,'to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States is:

1. In combination with a freezing tray, a removable partition assembly comprising a plu-' rality of similar flexible metallic partition elements, each of said partition elements having a longitudinally extending portion and oppositely extending transverse portions at each end of said longitudinally extending portion, said partition elements being arranged in series with a part of the surface of said longitudinal portion of each of said partition elements in abutting relation with said part of the surface of the longitudinal portion of another of said partition element, said abutting surfaces of said partition elements being rigidly secured together.

2. In combination with a freezing tray, a rea movable partition assembly comprising a plurality of similar flexible metallic partition elements, each of said partition elements having a longitudinally extendng portion and oppositely extending transverse portions at each end of said longitudinally extending portion, said partition elements being arranged in series with a part of the surface of said longitudinal portion of each of said partition elements in abutting relation central portion of another of said partition ele-' ments in abutting relation therewith, said abutting surfaces being secured together, the legs of said partition elements being arranged in spaced parallel relationship.

4. In combination with a freezing tray, a removable partition assembly comprising a plurality of duplicate substantially Z-shaped flexible metallic partition elements, said partition ele ments being arranged in series with a part of the surface of the central portion of each of said partition elements overlapping a part of the surface of the central portion of another of said partition elements in abutting relation therewith, and means including fused metal for securing said abutting surfaces together, the legs of said partition elements being arranged in spaced parallel relationship.

LEONARD W. ATCHISON. 

